Effects of Background Noise on Speech and Language in Young Adults

Purpose The aim of this study was to investigate how different types background noise that differ in their level linguistic content affect speech acoustics, fluency, and language production for young adult speakers when performing a monologue discourse task. Method Forty adults monologued by responding open-ended questions silent baseline five conditions (debate, movie dialogue, contemporary music, classical pink noise). Measures related acoustics (intensity frequency), fluency (speech rate, pausing, disfluencies), (lexical, morphosyntactic, macrolinguistic structure) were analyzed compared across conditions. Participants also reported on which they perceived as more distracting. Results All resulted some change spoken with the baseline. Effects consistent expected changes due Lombard effect (e.g., increased intensity fundamental frequency). showed decreased pausing disfluencies. Several seemed interfere production. Conclusions Findings suggest present both compensatory interference effects speaking noise. adjustments may facilitate intelligibility is help speaker listener maintain attention Other provide evidence eliciting has potential degrade even healthy adults, because cognitive demands.